The present invention relates to computer, and more particularly to an energy-conserving computer system utilizing keep-alive and switchable power-distributing circuitry to separately energize only needed keep-alive and main memory modules and other circuitry so as to utilize the least amount of power technologically possible to render the energy-conserving computer system remotely accessible as well as instantaneously actuatable.
In today""s society, not only are jillions of computer in service, but more and more new units will be manufactured and sold. As a result, power or energy waste can be accumulated to an alarming amount even if each unit is inefficient in power conserving for a few watts. Inefficiency in energy usage also correspondingly shortens the operating hours of a battery used in a notebook computer system.
A modern computer system is mostly equipped with a modem for sending and receiving facsimile information as well as for accessing internet information. Thus far, however, it cannot replace a typical fax machine because of its inconvenience in usage and inefficiency in power consumption. Inconvenience in usage is directly associated with the booting process of computer from a power-off state to an operating state, which may require up to 2 minutes of time. In contrast, any fax machine is readily operable for receiving or transmitting facsimile information. With respect to power consumption, a conventional fax machine requires roughly 10 watts of power in order to maintain its standby state for detecting an incoming call of facsimile information. However, much higher power is necessary for placing a conventional computer system to a corresponding standby state, in which its power supply unit (including a cooling fan), motherboard (including expansion cards), hard-disk drive, CD drive, and monitor will all incur various degrees of energy waste and also reduce mechanical/electronic life expectancy.
Recently, a great deal of effort has been made to conserve power usage in information-processing apparatuses, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,491,721 and 5,588,054 dealing with modems, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,713 dealing with computer systems. The prior arts basically improve power utilization after AC power is converted to regulated DC power through utilizing a power management processor to place a computer system selectively between a normal state and a standby state. However, improvement of a modem alone can neither enable its associated power-supply unit to operate more power-efficiently nor resolve the inconvenience mentioned hereinabove. Neither U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,713 teaches that the cooling fan of a power-supply unit should also be controlled to conserve power consumption.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,524 suggests a power supply system utilizing a command supply (i.e., switchable) to power both a fan and peripherals, which may not be desirable in view of U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,361 describing a fan controllable to dissipate heat discharged from its host CPU (central processing unit). Similar to other prior arts, U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,524 also defines that its standby state represents the lowest power consumption mode for a computer system, equivalent to turning the computer off, and thus a user should save work in progress, close applications, and exit to the system prompt. Consequently, in accordance with the conventional practice, no previous task or activity is restorable or resumable once a computer system enters the conventional standby state. In fact, it is highly desirable to maintain an application software program active so as to allow a computer system to be instantaneously and remotely accessible for receiving facsimile information once an incoming call is detected and so as to enable a user to instantaneously continue his/her unfinished tasks or files without reloading the software and the files. These features are attainable for a conventional computer that continuously maintains a sleep mode, but mechanical failure and electronic durability that can lead to reduced life expectancy will become the center issue of concern.
While U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,524 deals with supplying main power selectively to system board as a whole, U.S. Pat. No. 5,629,694 discloses a new keyboard with a power control key and suggests that its system board is divided into three zones energized respectively by battery power, standby power, and main power. The former affords neither power conserving nor instantaneous accessibility because its system board as a whole is energized and de-energized, respectively. On the other hand, the latter defines that the elements energized selectively by main power are standard sub-system (such as RAMs, ROMs, disc drives), expansion buses, etc. Removal of its main power will disable the operation of not only disk drives and expansion cards but RAMs and ROMs. Because of losing all vital information stored in the RAMs, the computer system inevitably requires another booting procedure in order to read information stored on ROMs and to reload software to RAMs. As a result, once entering the standby state, the conventional computer system becomes neither operative nor accessible instantaneously.
My allowed prior patent application (Ser. No. 09/026,032) discloses an energy-conserving power-supply system having keep-alive power and a control system for actuating the supply of either main DC power or AC power so as to maximize energy savings. The present application takes consideration of the shortcomings of the prior art mentioned hereinabove and thus aims to integrate the energy-conserving power-supply system with an energy-conserving motherboard so as to provide a new type of line-operated or battery-operated computer with characteristics of not only optimized energy savings and extended battery life but instantaneous and remote accessibility, thus totally eliminating conventional, time-consuming, manual shutdown and booting processes, for the first time.
Accordingly, a first primary embodiment of the present invention is to provide an energy-conserving computer system comprising (a) keep-alive power-distributing circuitry for continuously distributing keep-alive DC power to a first group of circuitry comprising keep-alive memory means (such as ROM, RAM or preferably SRAM) for storing task information (reflecting the operating activity of the energy-conserving computer system) to be kept alive, and (b) switchable power-distributing circuitry for selectively distributing main DC power to a second group of circuitry, wherein the switchable power-distributing circuitry comprises a plurality of slots (i.e., input/output connector means) for detachably establishing circuit communication with circuit cards to be selectively powered. Preferably, the keep-alive power-distributing circuitry further comprises at least one slot for detachably establishing circuit communication with the keep-alive memory means and/or an expansion card such as a fax card and a network card to be kept alive. The switchable power-distributing circuitry powers expansion cards (e.g., video, sound, and main volatile memory cards) as well as peripheral drives (e.g., hard-disk, CD, and floppy-disk drives), only when needed. Preferably comprised is second switchable power-distributing circuitry with a thermostat for independently actuating a cooling fan when the internal temperature exceeds a preset value. An energy-conserving notebook computer is afforded with an operable means adapted to automatically actuate an operating state and a keep-alive state when its screen is moved respectively to a viewable position and to a non-viewable position, in which opened (or modified) files and task information will be automatically saved and switchable power-distributing circuitry will be deactivated when entering the keep-alive state, and previous tasks will be restored when entering the operating state. Also preferred is a partial operating state in which the files are loaded to keep-alive memory means for manipulation but power to peripheral drives is deactivated, so as to conserve energy, to reduce mechanical wearing, and to improve operating efficiency. The energy-conserving computer system not only is remotely accessible by a modem for receiving facsimile information but is instantaneously restorable to resume previous activity through use of the very least amount of power technologically possible.
A second primary embodiment of the present invention is to provide an energy-conserving computer motherboard comprising (a) keep-alive power-distributing circuitry for continuously distributing keep-alive DC power at least to keep-alive memory for storing task information needed to be kept alive, and (b) switchable power-distributing circuitry for selectively distributing main DC power to a plurality of slots provided for detachably establishing circuit communication with circuit cards including a video card, a sound card, main volatile memory modules (such as RAM or DRAM) to be selectively powered. Preferably, the keep-alive power-distributing circuitry further comprises at least one slot for detachably establishing circuit communication with the keep-alive memory and/or an expansion card to be kept alive. The slots comprised in the keep-alive and the switchable power-distributing circuitry are rendered visually distinguishable from each other so as to allow a user to install keep-alive and switchable expansion cards properly. Further afforded are jumpers for changing the configuration between the keep-alive and the switchable power-distributing circuitry. Accordingly, the computer motherboard is rendered not only remotely accessible by a modem for receiving facsimile information but instantaneously restorable to resume previous activity.
A third primary embodiment of the present invention is to provide an operating system for use in an energy-conserving computer system comprising keep-alive memory and main volatile memory, wherein the operating system comprises the steps of (a) storing (or updating) task information needed to be kept alive to the keep-alive memory, when receiving a first signal to deactivate the main volatile memory, and (b) restoring previous tasks in accordance with the task information, when receiving a second signal to activate the main volatile memory. Preferably, the task information to be kept alive includes the names of the software programs and the files previously opened, the status of their activeness, and the last position of a cursor in each of the files.
A fourth primary embodiment of the present invention is to provide an energy-conserving mouse system comprising a manual operable means and interfacing means, wherein the interfacing means is provided for establishing circuit communication between the manual operable means and a host computer system having keep-alive and switchable power-distributing circuitry, and the manual operable means is actuatable for requesting the host computer system to enter a keep-alive state in which the switchable power-distributing circuitry is deactivated.
A fifth primary embodiment of the present invention is to provide an energy-conserving power-supply system for use in computer, comprising (a) keep-alive power-distributing circuitry for continuously distributing keep-alive power, (b) first switchable power-distributing circuitry for selectively distributing main DC power, (c) second switchable power-distributing circuitry for selectively outputting power selected from the group consisting of DC power, AC power and regulated DC power, and (d) cooling means coupled only to the second switchable power-distributing circuitry, for dissipating heat. This renders the cooling fan of the energy-conserving power-supply system independently or temperature-sensitively actuatable, which is distinctly different from the conventional practice.